(Bloomberg) — Alphabet Inc.’s Google said a monopoly lawsuit filed by a coalition of states led by Texas over digital advertising is an attack on the company’s success and would force it to help rivals that have fallen behind.
Google on Friday asked a federal judge in Manhattan to throw out the bulk of the states’ lawsuit, saying it threatens to undermine incentives for investment and innovation that have helped advertisers and online publishers. Google runs the biggest electronic marketplace in the world, according to the states, processing 11 billion online ad spaces every day.
“State plaintiffs’ complaint — cheered on by a handful of Google’s rivals who have failed to invest properly, compete successfully, or innovate consistently — might serve the narrow interests of those rivals, but it also threatens to stifle the dynamism that drives Google and other firms to deliver the products on which businesses and consumers depend every day,” the company said in its filing.
Google is in the midst of high-stakes battles with the U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general, who have accused the company of abusing its dominance in violation of competition laws. Officials have filed lawsuits aimed at Google conduct in internet search, digital advertising, and its Android mobile operating system.
A Texas-led suit targets digital advertising, where Google owns much of the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of display advertising on the web. At the center of the complaint is a 2018 agreement between Google and Facebook, which pledged not to support a tool that posed a competitive threat to Google’s technology, according to the states.
In its court filing Friday, Google fired back at that allegation, saying the agreement doesn’t restrict Facebook from competing against Google products.
Google is asking the court to dismiss the federal antitrust claims brought by the states. Separate state claims have been stayed and will be decided later.
The case is: In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, 21-md-03010, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
(Updates with court filing in third paragraph.)
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